Jak and Daxter: The Final Chapter
by 101speedsketch
Summary: Jak's fought a couple from destroying the world with Dark Eco, stopped the Metal Head leader from taking over a city, stopped a power-hungry politican and a crazed cybord from taking over the world...can he take this last adventure? M for cussing. :  R&R.
1. Chapter 1

Juliet sprinted home, eager to play on the new console her parents had gotten for her. She had done remarkably well during that year and her parents sought to reward her. She dashed up the driveway, her auburn hair flying about and her backpack (almost empty since the teachers had collected all her textbooks now that the school year had officially ended) bouncing against her back. At the door, Juliet took a few deep breaths, adjusting her hair and shirts so she didn't appear disheveled. She calmly opened the door and entered, smiling sweetly at her little brother, who was by the door, playing with some action figures. Juliet knelt and kissed his cheek affectionately before asking, "Hey lil buddy! How was your day?"

"Good!" he responded happily. "Daddy got me a new toy and he got you a box but I'm not supposed to tell you what's in it." The little boy continued.

Juliet giggled and kissed her brother's cheek again, giving him a quick hug before standing up and calling, "Mom? I'm home!" Being in the choir, her sweet voice had gained clarity and strength.

"In the kitchen, sweetheart!" Juliet heard. She gave a wide grin to herself and straightened her face, as if she didn't know about her present. She walked into the kitchen, sitting down on the stool exhaustedly and dumping her empty backpack on the floor unceremoniously. Her mother, a short woman with long black hair and bright attentive blue eyes, was at the counter washing dishes. Juliet groaned and placed her head down on the countertop. "Please, honey, we put our food there. We don't need to eat our hair follicles. Now tell me, how was school?"

"Exhausting. Where's dad?" Juliet asked, unable to keep her excitement down. She as at the end of her rope and didn't think she'd be able to keep up the tired, clueless act any longer.

"In the basement. Honey! Juliet's home!" her mother called downstairs. Juliet didn't miss the small smirk that her mother wore on her face. Juliet's father, a very tall man but also rather large around the belly, came up the stairs into the kitchen. He had green eyes and had dark brown hair to math. ON his face was the ever present beard. As he grew older, he had developed a habit of walking around with his hands clasped behind his back. He walked straight up to his daughter, waving a piece of paper angrily.

"What is this?" he asked harshly.

"My…my report card?"

"Read it aloud." He ordered sternly, giving the piece of paper over.

"A, A, A, A, A, A, and…A." Juliet finished, confused. Why was her father mad?

"Exactly. Now what is this?" he asked, taking his other hand out from behind him, his hand holding a box that was no larger than a ream of printer paper. Juliet squealed and hugged her father. Her father laughed and hugged her back while Juliet's mother dried off her hands and offered her congratulations. Juliet hugged her mother too and thanked them both for the gift and their congratulations. And with that, she ran upstairs to her room, clutching the new Playstation 5X to her chest.

On the floor of her room, Juliet opened the box, carefully pulling out her new "baby", as she latered referred to it. As she pulled it out, she noticed a glossy object out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look at it properly and felt her eyes widen; she was staring at the most sought after Jak and Daxter game of the series. Juliet giggled and looked at the hero's face lovingly. On impulse, she kissed the face on the cover and continued to set the system up. While the console prepped itself, she sat back and read the summary. It was a collection of all three games plus another chapter to the series that they had added. She wondered if they would have called it Jak 4 had it come out. This small little CD contained four games, all wrapped up together, promising several hours of gameplay. Juliet didn't have a television in her room; instead she had a type of projector which acted just like a TV only the size of the "screen" could be easily adjusted. Until her parents deemed her old enough to own her own console, Juliet had kept all her walls covered with Jak and Daxter posters. She considered herself their biggest fan, able to describe every mission with precise detail, despite having only played the game at her friends' houses. When she got her own projector and console, she immediately cleared a wall so that she could use it to play.

The console beeped a few times, snapping her attention away from the cover and to the game. Her hand searched blindly for the controller; she was unable to tear her eyes from the wall. Her hand found the controller and grasped it tightly, ready to play. The screen for the game popped up. Letters began to fly into words forming the title "Jak and Daxter". At first, it was in precursor language, but Juliet had found the precursor alphabet on the internet and had practically studied it. Her friends joked about it, saying it was a second language she was taking aside from Spanish 3 in school. The precursor letters began to rotate left but when they turned back they were in regular English. 'press start' began to flash underneath it. With another excited squeal, Juliet pressed start and opened a new safe file. The screen went black for a while and then she began to see swirling purple dots. _Dark Eco._ She thought.

"I have spent my life searching for the answers that my father and my father's fathers failed to find. Who were the Precursors? Why did they create the vast monoliths that litter our planet? How did they harness Eco, the life energy of the world? What was their purpose? And why did they vanish? I have asked the plants, but they do not remember. The plants have asked the rocks, but the rocks do not recall. Even the rocks do not recall." Juliet had been watching, smiling to herself widely. She was about to see the remastered version of the game; that meant the animation was sharper, clearer. She began to speak along with Samos. "Every bone in my body tells me that the answers rest on the shoulders... of a young boy," Juliet squealed and blew kisses as soon as Jak's face came into view. Samos continued on, "oblivious to his destiny, uninterested in the search for truth, and rejecting my guidance! And why would he want to listen to old Samos the sage, anyway? I'm only the master of Green Eco, one of the wisest men on the planet! So it seems the answers begin not with careful research or sensible thinking. Nay! As with many of fate's mysteries, it begins with but a small act... of disobedience." The game's graphic's startled her. She felt as if she could reach out and touch Jak's face and would be able to feel it. She grinned at the thought and stood up to go do it. She ran up and kissed the spot on the wall where Jak's cheek was but the minute her lips came in contact with the wall, she couldn't pull away. She panicked, shocked as to why her lips were stuck. She placed her hands on the wall and attempted to push away, but then they became stuck as well. She groaned, wondering what the hell was going on. On a mere whim, she placed her left bare foot against the wall and her right foot firmed on the ground. She tried to pull herself off but her right foot slipped and she ended up having her entire body stuck on the wall. Slowly the wall began to suck her in. She panicked and in her state she wildly thought, _Damnit! I need to finish the game!_ She pushed harder away from the wall, feeling the wll become cold and gooey, the stuff spreading over her fingers and covering her toes and feet. She tried to scream but the stuff had pulled in most of her face, leaving only her eyes to swivel around frantically. But no matter which way she swiveled them, all she could see was her wall. With an all-mighty tug, the wall sucked her in, effectively knocking her out.

The game had begun.

Author's Note:

AAAAAAAAAAAAH! Okay people so I was reading "Vacation or War" by the wonderful and amazing LoorTheDarkElf (Go check out her stories, she's absolutely fantastic. Go. Right now. No seriously just open another tab and go.), and I couldn't help but think of a similar story I'd started a few years back. When I read this I went digging through my literary graveyard and zombie-fied the story, bringing it to life once more. Of course I changed the plot a little…mine was originally featuring just Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, but I figured HEY why but add in the OTHER two games? So here it is. Seatbelts tied? Good. Hands and feet in? Good. Get ready guys here we go!


	2. Chapter 2

Juliet's eyes slowly fluttered open, her vision becoming sharper by the minute. She felt air rushing about her which was odd. Wasn't she in her room? She then saw her arms and legs stretched out in front of her. Her hair was also flying around her face. She felt oddly weightless but the minute she tried to straighten up she realized she couldn't do so easily. Where was she? Juliet looked around saw herself surrounded by dark gray. All of a sudden she felt herself get soaked by water, as if she'd been pushed into a pool backwards. That splash really woke her up; she looked up and saw a cloud. Getting smaller and smaller. _Very_ fast. Was she falling? Juliet closed her eyes and rolled around, suddenly feeling the air begin to rush around her front, her hair flying wildly. She looked down and thought she recognized the island. But why? She had hever been close enough to an island to recognize anything on it. She looked closely, squinting to keep her eyes from drying out, and saw an old rickety dock. She saw a small pool of mud about fifty feet from it. She noticed several things before her eyes fell on the misty area by the tusks.

"Misty Island?" She shrieked to herself. Thinking fast, Juliet angled herself so she'd land in the water. She tensed when she hit the water so it wouldn't hurt as much but she still felt the air get knocked out of her. As soon as stopped going down into the cold murky water, Juliet's eyes snapped open. She remembered what happened if a person was too far out in the water without a zoomer. As if on cue, she felt something slide past her back. She panicked and began to swim up and towards shore. Whatever it was it slid itself along the length of her stomach, making her insides squirm unpleasantly. She swam harder and harder, her muscles screaming in protest. Suddenly, whatever it was swam right past her, rasing up a large splash. Juliet coughed and spluttered before looking around curiously. She took a deep breath and held it, lightly pumping her legs to keep afloat. She pumped her arms furiously though but not a single splash was raised on the surface. Suddenly, whatever it was swam right in between her thighs, scratching them a little with it's rough scales. Juliet cried out and swam for her life towards shore. The dock was only a few feet away, She just had to get close to shallow waters. She swam faster, looking backwards. The Lurker Shark had given up playing with it's prey and was now swimming as fast as it could towards her. Juliet swam faster and faster until she reached the shore. She sighed and crawled up higher on the beach before laying on her back and staring up at the gray sky. She looked at the water in a tired manner and saw the dorsal fin of the shark pass by a few times before ducking underneath. She lay back and closed her eyes, breathing very heavily and relaxing when she heard a loud splash. She opened her eyes to see the Lurker Shark soaring through the air, having jumped from the water straight up by her. Juliet screamed and rolled sideways onto her hands and knees. From there she got up on her toes and dove forward, rolling continuously when she landed to get as far away from the thing as she could. The Lurker Shark landed hard where she had been and glared at her viciously, before flopping sideways and rolling down the shore into the water, where it righted itself and snapped two sets of jaws before it swam off.

_Was that a Lurker Shark? It was huge! I mean yeah it was orange like the one in the game but I remember those ones having about three or four teeth! This one had two mouths! What is going on? Why did my wall suck me in like that? What should I do? Wait…if I'm here then…_Juliet stood up and calmed herself, using the breathing exercises her mother taught her. She then looked around, everything looking eerily familiar. She realized she was on the same path that Jak and Daxter had taken when the game started. She could hear some talking around the corner. One was a heavily distorted voice, as if the owner had multiple voice boxes and the other was the harsh whip-like voice of a woman. She turned and saw the scene from the game. Gol and Maia were floating there, giving orders to brutish looking creatures. The smaller ones resembled gorillas while the larger ones, with their horrible skull helmets and massive bone clubs, stood by observing the proceedings. And there, behind a rock, were Jak and Daxter. Juliet stared in awe. Her hero, her favorite game character, was only mere feet from her. If only he'd turn around. Jak stayed still for a few minutes, listening as hard as he could before finally pulling away. Daxter followed him and Juliet saw one of the bigger lurkers turn, staring suspiciously at the rock. She decided it was best to follow the boys, perhaps beat them to their destination if possible. Taking a different route, Juliet walked quickly and quietly to the Eco Pool. To try and get a better view of where the boys were, she climbed a pole and looked outward. Unfortunately for her, she ended up breaking the top decoration of the pole, causing it to light up. She fell on her knees and gasped in pain, then clamped her mouth shut, hoping no one had heard her. She looked about frantically then picked up the small thing before dropping it and hiding in a safe spot. Two minutes later she heard the boys come in. She couldn't peek out and see Jak's face, because they would see her as well and might draw attention to themselves. Just then she heard Daxter speak up.

"What are we doin' down here anyway, Jak? This place gives me the creeps!" There were a few more seconds of silence, and then Daxter tripped over something. Juliet chanced a glance, staring in shock because Daxter had tripped over same thing she had broken from the pole. "Huh? Stupid Precursor junk!" Daxter exclaimed, seeing what he'd fallen on. Juliet peeked out from the side, taking care to keep everything hidden; Jak may have been young but he was very attentive. At the moment, Juliet's hero was leaning over the edge of the Dark Eco Pool and observing it keenly when Daxter came up beside him. "Ick! What is that dark ooze! It sure don't look friendly!" Jak simply nodded still looking at it. When his friend spoke up again, he glanced sideways at him. "The Sage yaps on about the Precursors that built this place all the time!" He then adopted a deep goofy voice and said, "Where did they go? Why did they build this crap?" On the last word he flung his hand out dramatically, tossing up the Precursor object high in the air, which Jak caught before it could hit the floor. He observed the Precursor object while Daxter walked about ignoring his friend. "Now I like Precursor Orbs and Power Cells as much as the next guy, but if you ask me, they musta been real losers. Wow! How didja do that?" Daxter cried excitedly. Juliet knew that the object had lit up in Jak's palms and that made her look at her own hands. Was it possible that she and Jak were somehow similar? Daxter hadn't been able to turn the machine on. Jak was about to respond when the large Lurker jumped down angrily. Juliet didn't know whether or not she should roll her eyes or gasp in horror. The lurkers helmet was bloody and his mouth was also covered in blood. When he roared, she caught a glimpse of red stained teeth. _So _that's_ how they get those helmets. They hunt those animals and use the skulls as helmets. _ Juliet shuddered and continued to watch.

"Jak I think we're in trouble!" Daxter cried, hiding behind his friend. Jak looked around to see if there was an exit but when he realized there was none, he set his jaw and ran at the Lurker, which had just begun to charge. The two met in the middle and just before the Lurker's club hit Jak, the latter flung the lit object he was holding at the Lurker's chest; the explosion killed the beast and Jak was flung back into Daxter, who cried for help before he fell into the eco. Unfortunately, the beast slammed right into the wooden bridge, trapping Juliet underneath.

Jak stared at the eco sadly, desperately, as if staring enough would cause his friend to return. He sighed and was just about to go when something shot out of the eco; something small and orange and furry.

"Man, that scum!" the little orange…thing, turned and walked up to Jak, who was looking at it, obviously confused. "I _told_ you we shouldn'ta come here and you listened!" Jak's jaw dropped, his eyes widening.

"What?" Daxter asked. He looked at his hand in shock. Despite her situation, Juliet couldn't help but snicker a little, when he screamed. "Okay! I'm okay! I'm okay." She heard Daxter say, and she knew he'd seen his new hind paws and tail. Daxter let out an even louder scream and Juliet lost it at that. She sat there giggling and snickering loudly, trying to quiet down.

"Wait…what's that?" she heard Daxter say. A moment later, the Lurked was pushed off the boards and Juliet was free. She looked up and saw the face of her hero. He was no older than her, and he looked exactly as he did in the game but somehow different. Perhaps it was that the clothes didn't appear so pixilated, or that his facial features didn't look so jagged. And what a face he had. Deep blue eyes, tan skin, and spiky light green hair.

Juliet looked into his face before fainting, a happy smile on her face. She'd seen Jak.

Author's note: Kinda short I know. But I mean I didn't want the meeting of the lovers to be…dramatic you know? I was considering her being super shaken up after the Lurker shark and she faints in Jak's arms etc etc. But that's so cliché. ^_^

Comments? Preferably good ones please…if you can't say whatever you want to say NICELY then…eh fuck off. Reviews ppl!


	3. Chapter 3

Yay Chapter 3! :D

Fun fun fun. Meet Samos, train with Jak, get them Powercells and get GOING! I might get to Rock Village in this chapter…idk. I never plan these.

Juliet let out a groan, signaling that she'd woken up. She found Daxter standing on her chest, looking at her quizzically.

"What's your name, toots?"

"Juliet." She mumbled. She began to sit up but Jak pushed her shoulder down gently. He opened his mouth to say something but Daxter jumped on his friends arm and said, "I think you should stay down baby."

"I'm sure _you_ do, Daxter." Juliet grinned, before clamping a hand to her mouth. Fortunately for her, Daxter didn't notice that she already knew his name. Jak didn't seem to have heard over the loud commotion of the motor.

In about a half hour, the small fishing boat had arrived at Sandover Village. Juliet had always wanted to go there because she felt it was a very homely place. She was particularly interested in the farmer's house, seeing it as a very cozy place. Jak hopped over the edge and held his hand out for Juliet. She reached out but before their hands made contact, Daxter scampered up from her shoulder, down her arm, up Jak's arm, and came to rest on his shoulder. He placed an arm easily on his friend's ear and reclined, grinning at them both. Jak shook his head and wiggled his fingers for Juliet, who grabbed them carefully and pulled herself out. His hands were remarkably soft; she had expected someone who jumped about, climbed rock faces, spied on Lurkers, and ran errands for a Sage to have much rougher hands.

Speaking of said Sage…

Jak, Daxter, and Juliet all popped their heads into Samos' doorway. His massive venus fly trap was next to the window and when Juliet heard the dripping of water, she looked up to the ceiling to see the slightly loose pipe in the ceiling, the one that NEVER stopped dripping no matter what Jak and Daxter did. The Sage himself had his back turned to the doorway, his legs crossed and his ever present bird sitting peacefully on the log upon his head. Daxter stepped in, emitting an almost imperceptible creak but it was enough to rouse the meditating Sage.

"_What _in green carnations do you two want?" Samos cried angrily, landing on the floor and turning the face the boys. Despite the massive sandals, which were about a foot high each, and the large log tied to his head, he was still a few inches shorter than Jak. The minute he started moving about, the bird began to fly about excitedly.

"We—we was—they-they—they—I—" Daxter stammered, but the Green Sage cut him off.

"Don't tell me! Instead of heeding my wisdom, the two of you went to the only place that I told you _not_ to go!" _Misty Island!"_

"That's right! And—."

"_And,_Daxter, you finally took a much needed bath, but in a bathtub filled with _Dark Eco." _Samos finished for him, trying to be creepy by deepening his voice.

"Look, old man! Are you gonna keep yapping? Or are you gonna help me outta this mess?" Daxter cried. Juliet gave a silent giggle; she had loved Daxter as a cartoon but somehow he was even funnier in person.

"I'm gonna keep yappin'! Because in my professional opinion, the change is an improvement." Samos cried back, smirking a little at the slight against Daxter that he'd made. Daxter made a low growling sound but Samos ignored it. He continued, "And besides," he paused, professionally stroking his beard, "I couldn't help you if I wanted to." He finished simply.

"WHAT?" Daxter cried loudly. Juliet winced at the pitch in his voice.

"There's only one person who has studied Dark Eco long enough to have a chance at returning you to your previous form." Samos flew up to his ceiling. "Gol Ackeron, the sage. But he lives to the North. Far, far, to the North. Nobody has spoken to him in ages." He landed back on the ground in front of the two boys (Juliet was standing in a rather unnoticed area of the hut) and continued. "I would teleport you there, but I can't do that neither. None of the other three Sages that maintain the other teleporter gates have seen fit to turn their ends on for quite a while!" Samos stared into the swirling light of the teleport before turning back to the boys. "The only other way North is by foot through the Fire Canyon. But its volcanic soil is hot enough to melt precursor metalis so hot that you just can walk through it."

"But you could fly _over_ it!" said a voice from the doorway. Juliet, who knew this was coming, had already faced the doorway to see the girl walk in. She was truly gorgeous with a light blue shirt on with extremely small sleeves. Her trousers were tied off just below the knee and she had chosen to go about barefoot. Her goggles rested on her chest and when Juliet observed closely, she realized that the shirt wasn't actually fitted to her. In fact it was much too small for her. It seemed to belong to a five or six year old. The girl continued, "If you happened to have a zoomer equipped with a heat shield. I just happen to be working on such a thing at this _very _moment. All I'd need are twenty Power cells to give it enough energy to withstand the canyon's heat." Daxter who had jumped down from Jak's shoulder, struck an impressive pose, which was completely ignored by Kiera. "Isn't that right, Daddy?" Kiera asked, pointing her thumb at Daxter as if to ask, "What's up with him?"

Samos began. "Yes Kiera that might work. But where are a boy—and_ a half_!" he paused and swung his staff down on Daxter's head who tok the bloow and rubbed the top of his aching head. "going to find twenty power cells?"

"From the villagers!" Kiera cried excitedly. Juliet mouthed along quietly behind her hand. "Most of them have a power cell or two stashed away _some_where. And even if they weren't willing to just _give_ them away, greasing their palms with a few precursor orbs _should_ do the trick." She said with a satisfied smirk. "And I'll bet there are even _more_ of them out in the wild just waiting for some brave adventurer to find." By now, Kiera had walked up very close to Jak and had her face only a few inches away from Jak's, who was giving her a nervous smile, while Kiera batted her large eyes at him. Juliet shivered, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. For some reason, whenever she played the game, she'd always been a little jealous of Kiera but seeing her get so close to Jak in person just angered her beyond belief. She gave a guttural sound, barely audible, and ground her teeth, watching the girl get closer and closer to Jak. Daxter intervened, thankfully disturbing the moment.

"We've got the brave adventurer at least." He said with a grin.

"Brave adventurer? You two couldn't find your way out of the village without training! Before you two do anything else, you better go through the warp gate and get some practice on Geyser Rock." Samos advised. "You too." He added, pointing his staff at Juliet.

"M—me?" Juliet stammered.

"Yes you. You might as well go through some training and we can see just how good you are."

"Oh..o—o—okay." Juliet stammered.

"Daddy…is she dressed to train?" Kiera asked. At this, Juliet glanced down. Indeed her clothes, the shorts (which were actually just a pair of old jeans with the leggings torn off at a little below mid thigh), and tank top were not proper clothes to wear while jumping and diving. She looked about, unsure of what else to do. Kiera smiled warmly. "Come with me. We'll get you fitted out." Juliet smiled back and followed Kiera out. Kiera, instead of climbing down the wooden walkway, simply jumped down to ground level, landing as if she had only hopped down from a stair. Juliet was astounded to say the least; that was at least a six foot height she's jumped from and she landed so lightly on her feet! Juliet took the long way down and followed Kiera into her workshop.

"Sorry if it's a bit hot in here. I need to keep the furnace going though to see how much the shield can withstand."

"That's alright." Juliet responded with a grin.

"Here you go!" Kiera said happily. She handed Juliet a white sleeveless shirt. The shirt felt rather heavy when Juliet hefted it in her hands but the minute she put it in she fell in love with the material; it as lighter than anything she'd ever worn! Kiera gave her a loose red tunic, similar to Jak's, to protect her modesty (the tunic was purposefully rather loose so the cloth could be wrinkled to hide the curves of the wearer). Kiera tsked at the torn shorts that Juliet was wearing and said, "We can't have you wearing that! It's all torn up!"

"It's supposed to look that way."

"Oh…it still looks rather messy and Daddy wouldn't approve. Unless you have a problem with it, do you think you could change into these?" Kiera asked. She couldn't think of a way word her questions, and as such her last one had come out rather rudely.

"Uhm no I have no problem at all." Juliet mumbled, before hopping out of her shorts. The hut was at the highest point of elevation there. It was also far away from any prying eyes. The only men there were Samos, Jak, and Daxter and the latter two had already gone through the warp gate. Juliet climbed into a pair if trousers that resembled tights; the cloth hugged her curves perfectly. She was then given a tan colored pair of trousers that looked similar to bell bottoms, which she put on, loving how it looked on her. The bottom part of the trousers was rather short though not like the regular bell bottoms. It was rather hot in Sandover Village so she figured the clothing made sense.

Kiera then tossed long strips of cloth at Juliet, who caught them and looked at them curiously before her eyes fell on Kiera's gloves and she grasped the idea. She began to wind the cloth around her hands when Kiera cocked her head to one side and asked, "What are you doing?"

Juliet gave a snicker and pulled the cloth off her hands. "No idea."

"Those are your shoes silly! See?" Kiera sat down and pointed both her feet at Juliet who stared at them hard, trying to figure out how the cloth was bound. "You've never worn these before have you?" Kiera asked, knowingly.

"Nope!" Juliet replied with an aloof grin. Kiera smiled and guided Juliet down into the chair. Kiera sat on the floor and pulled Juliet's feet into her lap. She stopped short when she caught sight of the flip flops.

"What—what are these?"

"Shoes." Juliet replied with a grin. "I love the sound they make when I do this!" and Juliet proceeded to flex her toes back and forth; the flip flop made a slapping sound against the ball of her feet. Kiera however didn't smile, too intrigued by these things.

"What are they for?"

"Umm…I don't know I suppose just for traction I guess. I just wear them cuz they look cute. But I like those! Cuz it looks like you're going barefoot!" Kiera laughed at that and nervously pulled off the flip flops before winding the cloth around Juliet's feet comfortably. Juliet had to admit, this was a _lot_ more comfortable than flip flops. If flip flops weren't perfectly right, they were either too big and one would have to keep their toes flexed to keep them on, or the flip flops were too small and they would be tight on a person's feet. These cloth things were perfect though.

She got off the chair, hopped around on the balls of her feet, testing the "shoes" and nodded when she was satisfied. She thanked Kiera and headed back up to Samos' hut.

"Well now. We're more properly dressed now aren't we? At least you don't look like you escaped from the jaws of a Lurker Shark." Samos said. Juliet burst out laughing at the irony; she'd done just that only about an hour ago. Samos glared at her, effectively bringing her laughing to a halt.

"Through the gate…if you please." Juliet nodded and walked up to it, unsure of how to go through. She stared at it quizzically before lifting a finger and tentatively poking the gate. It felt as if it were a curtain of water around her finger. Samos rolled his eyes and whacked her over the head with his staff.

"Ow! Jeez what was that—hey!" Juliet cried out when Samos struck her. She had whirled around and tried to back away from the man's lethal weapon; instead she fell through the warp gate.

Jak was laid out on the grass with his hands behind his head, obviously napping. Daxter was running around, occasionally jumping and pulling quite a few acrobatics. Jak sat up and Daxter took his place on his friend's shoulder. Jak opened his mouth but Daxter cut him off. "Hey toots! I like the new threads."

"Thanks. So umm…should we get started?"

Jak nodded and started off at a run, heading for the stone steps. They didn't find the precursor orbs floating around in mid air like Juliet had seen; rather, the orbs were half buried underground so that their precursor metal still shone in the sunlight. Jak ran around collecting them all before continuing forward. Juliet ran a little behind him, now wanting him to see her inadequacy. In the game, Jak was very fast and could survive a near eighty foot drop. If he was like that in the game, it only made sense he was similar in this world. And if Kiera could hop down from a six foot height and land as if it were nothing, then Juliet had cause for concern.

Jak shrugged a shoulder to get Daxter's attention but that was quite unnecessary; Daxter was staring at the Power Cell ahead with excitement. Jak easily leapt over the spikes and grabbed the cell. As he put it away, Daxter did a little robotic dance before hopping back on his friends shoulder. The rotating and revolving pieces in the cell seemed to magically fly back into their respective holes when Jak touched it. Juliet sighed and climbed up on the ledges to the left heading towards the scout flies, not really interested in them. She was more preoccupied with the Blue Eco that was right around the corner. She knew that little cluster would immediately come back but she would have still felt bad about taking it. She instead climbed down the edges and collected the hidden precursor orbs, putting them in her pouch on her back. She climbed up and saw Jak collecting the Power-Cell from the scout flies.

"'Wow did you see that?' Juliet muttered to herself. 'That last scout fly had a power cell! I'll bet if you find all the scout flies in each area, they'll give you a power cell!'" She stood up, brushed off her clothes and pointed at the Blue Eco cluster. On cue (obviously), Samos appeared on the communicator.

"That's Blue Eco, which gives the energy of motion. Blue Eco allows you to run fast, break boxes…" Juliet sighed impatiently and stepped forward with Jak. Perhaps if they both touched it they could channel Eco at the same time? She reached her hand out but stopped. Jak had a natural ability to channel Eco…would the same apply to her? Thinking nothing could go wrong, Juliet gave a shrug and touched the Eco.

At once, she felt the Eco begin to surge through her, overpowering her muscles. Everything she did seemed a whole lot faster…or was it that everything around her seemed slower? Whatever it was she liked the feeling. She brought her hand up to her face and saw it coursing with blue lightning. Every inch of her seemed to be blanketed in the lightning. She looked at Jak incredulously, who seemed to be just as shocked as she was.

He grinned at her and then took off. Though his speed hadn't improved much, it would make a hell of a difference if he were in a race. Juliet grinned and ran after him not expecting to catch up to him. She tensed up, getting in the running pose her coach had taught her. She pushed off her back leg…

And the next minute later she found herself across the bridge standing in the Blue Eco vent. Jak ran around the corner only a moment later and stared with his mouth wide open. Daxter's eyes were bugging out of their eyes. He kept staring back at the blue eco cluster and then at Juliet.

Jak ran up to her until his charge of Eco ran out but he kept running at her. Suddenly, Jak seemed three times slower to her.

"How'd you get over here? You were back there and now you're here! And we started before you!" Daxter cried.

"Uhmm…I weigh less?" Juliet offered with an uncertain grin. Jak gave her a "yeah right" look and rolled his eyes with a smile. He put a hand through the Eco and grinned as the blue lightning began to visibly course through his body. He took off towards the door, Daxter bouncing on his shoulder. Juliet put one foot out of the vent, wanting to follow Jak, but the next thing she knew she was on the highest point of Geyser Rock, the Blue Eco cluster hovering in mid air and the Precursor plate shuddering in the air, waiting to be charged up. The blue lightning bolt symbol lay dark and dormant, only to be lit up if blue Eco touched it. Juliet stood on the plate and immediately felt it light up and stop shuddering. The blue lightning bolt beneath her lit up and she could feel its warmth from the tips of her toes. When it touched down on the ground, Juliet hopped off and stood there. _Should I wait? No he might get suspicious. Best thing to do is to catch up to him._ She imagined Jak would be at the part where Samos was teaching them about double jumps. She cocked her head, trying to imagine real people doing it. Still not sure why or how she'd gotten up there so fast, Juliet took off until she reached the small Blue Eco cluster after the Scout flies. She stopped there, letting the charge run out and then running the rest of the course manually. She dived down into the water past the gate climbed up the precursor hollow pillars, crossed the bridge and saw Jak up on the first ledge. She was rather confused. After all that physical exertion, she should have been at least a _little_ winded; however, she felt as if she'd just gotten up to stretch a little. Just as Jak was jumping up to the second ledge, Juliet reached the first.

"Hey baby! Where'd you go? I looked behind us and you weren't there."

"I was diving in the pool cuz I thought I saw some precursor orbs. Didn't find any." She said, feigning disappointment.

Jak shrugged and jumped straight off the ledge. Juliet shrieked and ran up to the edge, hoping he was alright; she didn't want her hero dying on her. The game had little health boxes but this was technically real life so she wasn't sure what would happen. Instead, Jak pulled something from the inside of his blue tunic and stretched it out. Juliet breathed a sigh of relief as she realized it was just some fabric used as a parachute. He landed safely on the ground before bundling the fabric up and putting it away. Juliet got onto the plate when it came up and gently stepped off a few seconds later.

They grinned at each other and raced to the warp gate. Naturally, Jak won but he still waited for Juliet to go through the gate first. Juliet, ever the careful one, stepped through. Jak on the other hand dove right through it the minute she had gone through. While he managed to roll out in style, Daxter ended up rocketing out, performing a spectacular face skid before getting up and growling at Jak, who shrugged as if to say, "Wasn't me."

"Great work." Samos said, "But that's _nothing _compared to the challenges that lie ahead."

"Eh they're no problem! We got the moves, eh guys? We'd love to stay and chat big green but we're ah…anxious to get on with our adventure." Daxter finished with a cocky grin at Samos, who rolled his eyes.

"Fine fine. 'Adventure' away then." Samos said, using the finger-quote sign when he said adventure. "And while you're out 'adventuring'…why don't you make yourselves useful? My darn green Eco collectors have blocked up again. Head out to the far side of the beach and clear them out why don't you?" the three moved to leave the hut but Samos was not finished. "Follow the lamps." He said very exaggeratedly. "They'll lead you right there. Now…all of you…" he began. Juliet plugged her ears, indicating that the other two should do the same. Daxter was a little slow however and didn't copy the others; he ended up getting blown off Jak's shoulders when Samos finished his sentence with, "GET OUT OF HERE!"

Jak and Juliet scurried out of the hut, Jak grabbing Daxter on the way out. While Juliet began to jog down the side, Jak jumped down and landed in front of her with a smile. She smiled back and cocked her head when Jak made a sign for her to follow. She followed him down, peering into the mayor's hut and finding him pacing nervously, sometimes glancing up at the stationary gears. She glanced at the bird lady who was observing the Flut-Flut egg. Juliet followed Jak and stopped when he began to climb the path to Fire Canyon.

"Jak? We're not supposed to be up here."

"Yeah and I don't wanna get ole Grampa Green mad at us. I'm gonna go to your uncle's house and nap." Daxter said, and with that he took off without waiting for the other two.

Jak shok his head and urged her to follow. She sighed, shrugged, and followed him up. Jak, however, didn't run directly to Fire Canyon. He ran to the rock face and began to feel around for something. Juliet watched, confused. She had no idea what the hell he was doing. _This wasn't in the game_.

Jak's fingers found something and he began to tug on it, his muscles taut and hard as they worked to move the immense load. Jak shifted the massive slab of rock and shook his shoulders and arms to ease the tension. He then crawled inside and beckoned her to follow. Juliet, overcome with curiosity, crawled in.

"Where are we?" It was completely dark and she couldn't see anything at all. Jak moved past her and she saw him crawl out. She began to panic, thinking he was going to move the rock and leave her there but then she rolled her eyes and mentally smacked herself. Jak was a sweet guy; he would never do that to anyone. Jak returned a few moments later with a few small logs of firewood. Once inside, he lit the fire and revealed the room.

Juliet was unnecessarily huddled up; the room was large enough for about twenty people to comfortably stand up in. She stretched out and saw Jak walk up to the walls and pull out a small vial of some Yellow liquid. This he tossed at the walls and when the vial exploded the yellow liquid (which turned out to be Yellow Eco) began to trace a path through some previously carved designs. They weren't precursor letters nor were they any form of writing…just random lines that were surprisingly angular.

Jak grinned and sat down beside her. He waved his arm in an arc around the room as if to ask her what she thought of it.

"I think it's amazing! These lines are so cool! How'd you get them to shine in those different colors?"

Jak held up some crystals. He pulled out a pair of tongs and held the crystal over the fire he'd made while Juliet was observing the walls. While the crystal heated up, Jak used a free hand to dig up something to his left. He uncovered a few vials of several different colored Eco. Expertly, Jak pulled the hot crystal away and grasped it between his fingers. Juliet cried out to stop him but Jak pulled away, still molding it with his fingers. Once his job was done he bit the stopper off the green vial and immediately poured the contents all over his hands, sighing in relief.

Juliet was glad he was well prepared but she didn't think he had to injure himself like that. She vaguely wondered how many times he'd done that. Jak wasn't done yet though. He pulled out a little blue paint and covered the crystal in it, reheating the crystal as he went. Somehow, the paint became transparent and dyed the clear crystal a blue-ish color. Jak sat back and observed his work. From a chunk of crystal about the size of his fist, Jak had created something similar to a double helix strand without the steps in between. When the figure was held up to the light, the sparkling flecks of light turned blue and danced around the cave.

"That's so cool!" Juliet cried, gingerly taking the piece so as not to break it. They sat in that cave for a few hours, Jak showing her several new things and Juliet chatting animatedly about her parents and her brother. They were becoming quite close to each other.

Quite close indeed.

Reviews? I know this one was really…bland…but what did you expect? It's only the first level! Oh and uh…what do you guys think is up with her and the Eco? How does she move from one Eco cluster to an Eco vent? XD a virtual cookie for anyone who gets it right! :D

Love you lots people. Sean out.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four! Yay! I wasn't too happy with chapter three but it's already been posted so…w/e. :D Hmm…well I guess I'll give up on those summaries of the chapters since I dismally failed at meeting the last one :P Therefore…we'll wing it. Yay! I'm feeling quite chirpy today idk why haha. Definitely gonna get through Forbidden Forest…Sentinel Beach is just WAY too busy to write about right now.

Jak helped Juliet out of the cave and once the two were out, he sealed the entrance with the massive slab of rock.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you! Hey toots." Daxter added flirtatiously. Juliet rolled her eyes but decided to play along. She blew him a kiss and walked off towards the farmer's house. At the edge she looked down and began to slowly climb down. She'd made it to the second ledge from the top when she heard a slight thump. Peering over the edge she saw Jak getting up and dusting himself off before looking up and waiting for Juliet. _How do they do that?_ She thought. She shuddered just thinking about the consequences of taking such a fall. Normally, Juliet would have taken her time and climbed down at her own pace, but she had seen the seemingly discreet looks of impatience (and the very obvious ones from Daxter) from Jak. She sighed and backed up into the rock face, steeling herself for what she was about to do. With a whoop, Juliet sprinted the short distance to the ledge and jumped as hard as she could. The feeling of weightlessness took over her. Slowly she began to descend and with each second Juliet began to realize that her little jump may not have been such a good idea. She balled up, remembering how Jak would roll before he hit the ground. She kept her eyes open until the very last second before she hit the ground, squeezing her eyes shut and trusting herself to know what to do. Her shoulder hit the ground and Juliet let out a yelp although it was quite unnecessary; she used her momentum to roll forward and stand up firmly on her feet.

"I'm alive!" she whooped.

"Yeah…" Daxter's voice said. Juliet turned to look at him and saw both his expression and Jak's expression to one of confusion. To them, all she'd done was jumped off a ledge. They simply didn't understand Juliet's happiness. She grinned and jumped as hard as she could marveling at the height she reached. On a whim, she pumped her legs in the air, feeling awkward as she did so; she was hoping for a double jump but nothing of the sort happened.

"Hey Jak? Could you show me how you got to that high ledge on Geyser Rock?" Juliet asked, her heart pounding in joy. For some reason she felt like the queen of the world.

Jak looked around before settling on the pillar of rock near the shore. He crouched low and jumped as high as he could. Then at the height of his jump, he kicked down and outwards with both legs, gaining about three feet in height before landing on his feet easily. Juliet tried it a few times before she mastered it. She pestered Jak with several more questions, until she'd mastered everything he knew. Of course the one thing she'd have to learn for herself was Eco-channeling.

Juliet giggled and ran off towards Forbidden Forest.

"Hey! Toots! Where ya goin'?" Daxter called.

"To the forest to get more power cells!"

"Uhh to the _Forbidden_ Forest? Key word _Forbidden?_"

"Uhh…yeah." Juliet said in a matter-of-fact tone. She turned and ran off towards the ledges that led up to the forest. The one thing she hadn't quite perfected was Jak's speed, but that would come with practice.

Jak easily caught up to her but instead of pulling her back, he ran ahead and easily scaled the ledges. Juliet grinned and copied him. Together, they crossed the bridge and stopped when the snake dropped from the foliage. Juliet ignored it and ran off to the left, carefully jumping on the stones to avoid the piranhas. From there she ran to her right, and up onto the flat plateau-like tree trunks that led to the massive precursor structure. She heard Jak following close behind her and waited for him when she reached solid ground. She kept her eyes up, expecting the snake to drop any minute. Just as it had in the game, the snake dropped from the leaves above. Jak leapt back but Juliet, who was expecting it, spun to her left, swinging her right leg up as she went. Her timing was flawless; her heel crashed into the snake's jaw, effectively knocking it out. Out of commission, the rest of the snake fell from the treetops and landed in a messy pile.

"Jeez toots! That was fast!" Juliet turned to see Daxter sporting an impressed look while Jak's jaw hung loose. Daxter rolled his eyes and closed his jaw for him. As Juliet walked onward, Daxter jumped down from Jak's shoulder to mock the dead snake. "That's right! We bad!" Juliet peeked around the corner and saw the two Lurkers. They hadn't seen her from this far and they were carelessly lumbering about, looking extremely bored.

Juliet had to admit they looked rather fearsome than the ones she'd seen in the game. In the game they appeared comical with their thin biceps and large forearms. They're two teeth poking out from their lips and their brutish expressions appeared quite funny. But this was something different. The Lurkers were actually very hunched over, so much in fact that if they hadn't kept their shoulders raised then their hands would drag on the ground. Their shoulders seemed to have evolved into that position and looked rather massive. The horrid yellow eyes had bags under them and the pupils were so small that they could barely be seen while the teeth were sharpened. Juliet noticed a small stone on the belt that the Lurkers wore. Confirming her belief about the stone, one of the Lurkers pulled the stone and gave his left tooth a little sharpening before putting the stone away. She turned to Jak and whispered, "There's two Lurkers up ahead. Now if we get up to the top of that structure I doubt they'll follow us. From there we can break the mirror and dive down on them and get rid of them. Okay?"

"Yeah toots that's a real good idea…only there's one problem."

"What's that?"

"There's one right BEHIND YOU!" Daxter cried hiding behind Jak. Juliet turned and shoved the Lurker away as hard as she could. As it was, the thing was much heavier than she thought so it didn't go very far but it did give her an opportunity to attack. She charged right at the Lurker while it was unsteady and jumped, slamming both her heels into its face. The sheer power of the kick sent the Lurker flying back into a trunk but rather than breaking the trunk it bounced right off after a sickening thud and flew back at her. Juliet steeled herself and swung her right fist as hard as she could. Given her new found strength, the Lurker ended up getting clothes-lined, its body splashing into the small river. Immediately, a few piranha began to munch away at it.

"Jeez toots! Where'd you learn all these moves?"

"I used to take lessons from this old guy down the street where I used to live. He was like, _super_ old but he could still do all these crazy ninja moves." She proceeded to jump around, imitating her "master". Daxter just stared at her like she was crazy. After a small pause, Juliet shrugged and said, "I dunno I figured it might come in handy some day."

"Right. So what's this thing do?" Daxter asked, poking the mirror.

"Nothing." Juliet responded, and with a well aimed kick, she shattered the mirror. The beam of Blue Eco shot into the water.

"Hey whoa whoa! What are you doing? That mighta been helping us!"

"Uhmm it wasn't."

"How do you know?" Daxter asked suspiciously. Juliet panicked; she couldn't let them find out that she knew what would happen.

"The—uhmm …the—the mirror!" she cried. "Yes! Yes the mirror!"

"The mirror?" Daxter said with a "yeah right" look on his face.

"Uhh yeah. Did you see how poorly crafted that thing was? I mean—oh look a pole popped up! I wonder what we're supposed to do!" Juliet jumped down and made to grasp the handles of the mirror when Daxter cried out. Juliet turned to see the second Lurker raising its massive arms to crush her under their weight. Thinking quickly, Juliet jumped at the metal siding of the odd machine then, jumping off the side, she kicked out hard. Her kick had been powerful enough to break the Lurker's neck. Jak jumped down beside her and looked at her carefully. He had always felt disgusted with killing a Lurker and he avoided it as much as possible. How come she was completely okay with it? As if on cue, Juliet covered her mouth and ran off. Jak and Daxter glanced at each other before Jak shook his head and grasped the handles, peering into the binocular-like lenses before him. He looked around before he spotted a similar looking pole and lined up the small targeting circle with the mirror. Daxter tapped him on the ear to indicate that the beam had indeed been reflected off to the mirror.

"Hey uhh...toots? You alright?" Daxter asked slowly. Juliet stepped around the corner, still looking a little green and clutching her stomach rather tightly, but she nodded silently. To find something else to gaze at other than the Lurker, Juliet looked up at the Blue Eco beam and followed it to the next mirror. Jak caught on and pushed the dead Lurker off the edge while she wasn't looking. Together, they ran up to the ledge and jumped off, landed at the end of the long hallway-like area of the forest past the first bridge. Juliet sighed when another snake dropped down, trying to snap it's jaws at her. She simply crouched low so the snake missed then kicked it in the bottom of the jaw to knock it out. Just as Jak finished lining up the beam, the rest of the snake fell down in a heap.

"Ready to go?" Juliet asked. Jak nodded and began to lead the way. Juliet watched him with a confused look as Jak dodged past the spiked logs and the spikes on the floor and the spiked frog (see a trend?) and landed on the other side in a crouch before straightening up slowly for effect. He turned around with a smirk to look at Juliet…only to find her gone. Losing his cool expression, Jak looked around until he heard a loud whistle. Daxter and Jak looked over to see Juliet standing by a ledge with a grin on her face. Dumbfounded, the pair made their way to the ledge, hearing some grumbling getting louder and louder.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Daxter asked.

"Uhh…I took the short cut through the river."

"What about the piranha?" Daxter asked quickly. In response, Juliet picked up a small fruit and punted it as hard as she could, watching it soar. "Oh…"

"C'mon let's go see if we can help the fisherman."

Jak followed Juliet down to the fisherman, who was standing with his hands deep in his pockets muttering foully. Daxter peered into the empty basket and asked jovially. "Whaddaya got in the basket?"

"Nothing worth talkin' about." The fisherman replied sourly. "Them monsters in the ocean destroyed my fishin' boat, and now they're gobblin' up me catch! Now matter what I try, I can't seem to catch a single fish in this river." At this point, the fisherman had gotten incredibly close to Daxter's face as if the shorter the distance between them , the stronger his point would be. Daxter tried valiantly to hold his breath but it didn't work.

"Whoo! Maybe…it's your breath." Daxter advised, as if it were something any average person could have missed.

"You think you could do better? Try swoopin' up river fish with a tiny net." He cried, gesturing at a weak looking net. "I'll make you a deal. If you can catch two hundred pounds of good fish then you and your little friend here can have me power cell in return. Are you up to the challenge?" Juliet, who had been standing by on the sidelines, giggled at Daxter's misfortune. The offer was tempting but she wasn't used to catching fish the way Jak was. She was used to using hook and line.

"Hey…is it alright if I go sit on the edge there?" She asked the fisherman, pointing towards the waterfall. "I can keep an eye on which fish are coming."

"I don't see why not. Only take care to not get bitten by them poisonous eels. Now, Jak, here's the way it works. There are one pound fishies, and five pound fishies. Eh? Now, ya miss twenty pounds o' good fish and I'm gonna take me net back from yeh!" He cried. "There are poisonous eels in this river. Catch even _one_ of them buggers…and you'll poison the whole darn catch!"

Juliet sat down on the warm ground by the waterfall. The whole scene was quite picturesque. The waterfall was producing a bit of vapor, resulting in a rainbow overhead. The ground around the edges of the river was covered with large smooth rocks which were then covered with sand. This made some very comfortable ground to lay down on. Juliet sat down on the edge and pulled off the fabric shoes, bundling them up and putting them to one side. While dipping her feet into the water, Juliet made sure to keep an eye out for any poisonous eels that might try to bite her.

Occasionally she'd call out to Jak, informing him of approaching fishes but she soon gave up, simply sitting and enjoying the sun. She heard the fisherman exclaim, "Hold steady! You're almost there!" Juliet stood up, dried her feet off and rebound her shoes. By the time she had returned to Jak, he'd just finished catching 203 pounds of fish. The fisherman jumped with joy and gave a little jig. "Couple o' fishermen you turned out to be, eh? Here's the power cell I promised yeh. And you can use my boat at the dock whenever you like." He finished jovially. The group continued on their way, the rambunctious laughter of the fisherman dying away.

"Now where?" Daxter asked. Juliet looked up in response and lead the way to the next mirror. As the day was drawing to a close, the group thought it best to leave the Forest; who knew what dangerous nocturnal monsters came out at night. As Jak lined up the last mirror to the Mayor's Hut, Juliet began to make her way there, hoping to get the power cell and sleep. Jak caught up with her and jogged to the Mayor's Hut, Juliet legging behind a little.

"Why hello there hello!"The Mayor said loudly. "What can I help you with?"

"We want that Power cell you promised to whoever fixed the gears."

"Oh I see, and I suppose some nasty little friends of yours are on top of my hut turning the fan so you can take my Power cell." The Mayor finished hotly.

"We made a new friend. Blue Eco. Met him before?" Daxter asked coyly. The Mayor stared suspiciously before wandering outside to check the windmill. He jumped a little and regained his happy composure.

"Oh boys what a wonderful sign! You have restored the village's power. And the village will restore me! Ah thank you boys—"

"And girl."

",and girl," the Mayor amended, "and I hope this power cell is enough to show my gratitude." He passed the power cell to the heroes but before they left, Juliet stopped and asked, "Hey what do we get if we donate for your campaign?" knowing the answer.

"Why I'd be willing to part with another Power cell. But the donation would have to be err…sizable." He finished with a nervous laugh.

"Hmm…would ninety Precursor orbs cut it?"

"Ninety it is." The Mayor said jovially, spitting in his hand and holding it out. Juliet looked disgustedly at his right hand before shaking her head.

"No thanks. Here are the orbs. Can I get that Power cell? With the left hand if you don't mind." She added as an afterthought. The Mayor grinned and handed the Power cell over to Jak.

Juliet glanced around saw Jak's Uncle through a window. He was still up, leaning heavily on his cane and shaking his head morosely. Seeing another opportunity, she shook herself awake and asked, "Hey Jak do you have any family?" Jak turned and nodded, looking around and finding his uncle's hut. She followed him, another bag of ninety orbs prepared.

"Why hello my dear boy." Juliet, who was completely exhausted by the day's events, stood staring at her toes, subconsciously registering the conversation and mechanically pulling out the bag of orbs for his uncle.

"Why thank you my dear. Here's the power cell. Ta ta, cheerio!"Jak pocketed the orb and led the way to Samos' hut. Samos was still awake, reading up on something by the firelight. Kiera was up there as well, although she was curled up on the rug with her head on a book.

"Good work boys. I noticed you left my Eco collectors clogged but you managed to get some power cells so I suppose today wasn't a _total_ loss. Drop them off here and head on to bed. Oh and, you might as well take Kiera to her room."

"I'll take her." Juliet offered. Having taken so many of her friends home from raves and drunk parties, she knew all too well how to handle the situation. She eased Kiera up into a standing position and half carried-half dragged the girl down the steps. While Jak and Daxter bid their farewells to Samos, Juliet tucked Kiera into bed.

"Mmm Jak, I love you." The girl whispered sleepily. Juliet snickered a little but looked around for a spare blanket. Finding none, she decided to pull up a few cushions that she saw lying around and placed them all up against the wall by the fire. She lay down and was asleep even before her head hit the pillow.

Juliet awoke, sitting up groggily. She rolled up off the floor, wondering why she hadn't woken up when she fell off her bed. She stood up and felt around for her brush, which usually lay on the bedside table. Groaning, she realized her brother must have taken it at some point. She mumbled sleepily and moved to tuck her hair behind her ear.

Her hand froze. Since when was her ear so long? Her eyes snapped open, immediately adjusting to the light. She felt her ears a few more times before glancing around. She was still wearing the clothes that she'd worn in the dream. Wait did that mean the dream was still going on? What if it wasn't a dream? No no it_ had_ to be a dream…right? Juliet glanced over to the bed and saw Kiera sleeping peacefully. Un sure of herself, Juliet pinched her arm. Nope it still stung which meant it wasn't a dream. It took her mind a few minutes to wrap around the idea; she was in a game. No, she was in a world. A brand new world of which she somehow had complete knowledge of. Why was she here though? Was she meant to change something? Her creative imagination took over. _I'm not here just for the hell of it. There has to be something I have to do. Am I just supposed to help him? But what if I do something and I change something important in the second or third game? Oh no there's a fourth game isn't there? What if I change something in that?_ She sat for a while, debating whether or not she should do her best to let things run the way they should or to play the "game" as she would have. By now the sun had just crossed the horizon. She groaned and decided it was best to wake Kiera up. She could hear Samos moving about upstairs anyway.

Juliet stood and oddly, everything seemed so much more real to her. As she walked, she gripped the floor with her toes, feeling the smooth wood underneath. She felt the rustle of her clothes against her skin, the cool metal of the iron ring belt which crossed her waist. She walked up to Kiera, observing her face keenly. She looked nothing like her digital self; in fact she looked more beautiful. Her cheeks seemed to have a natural blush to them and her eyelashes were extremely long and think, something Juliet felt a small pang of envy over. Not wanting to frighten to girl awake, she leaned in close as she did with her brother and gently shook her shoulder. Juliet could see a grin forming on Kiera's face and knew she was up but wasn't responding so she decided to play along. Juliet sighed melodramatically and slowly turned to leave when Kiera jumped up.

"Sur—" Juliet almost finished her word when Kiera's lips came crashing down on hers. Completely stunned, Juliet froze, her hands still raised on either side of her head, reminiscent of a surrender position one might take. Her eyes were wide open looking around frantically, only able to see Kiera's shut eyelids and bangs. After what seemed like an eternity, Kiera gently pulled away, still leaning in and kissing Juliet again and again.

"Oh, Jak." Kiera whispered, her eyes still shut. That was when Juliet's brain kicked in. _How can she _not_ tell I'm a girl?_ _And why did I _not_ say anything? On the other hand I thought it was rather nice. Oh be quiet, other self. Why the hell are you still silent? Say something!_

"Umm…" Juliet said out loud, hoping this would catch Kiera's attention. "Kiera?"

Kiera squeaked and all but shoved Juliet away, before hiding herself under the covers. "I'm so embarrassed! Oh my gosh I thought—He usually comes and—I forgot about—ugh!" she stammered. "I can't believe I did that!" she squeaked, her voice sounding muffled under the pillows.

Thinking fast, Juliet said, "Did what? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Kiera peeked out from behind the pillow. "Huh?"

"I dunno I think you were dreaming or something." Juliet said, shrugging and winking at Kiera with a comforting smile. Kiera smiled back slowly.

"Yeah…yeah I was umm…dreaming."

"Yeah…dreaming. It's nice once in a while."

"Yeah! Yeah it is…"

"Yeah…"

The two girls stayed there for a few minutes before Juliet said, "I'm gonna go see if Samos has something for me to do."

"Sure! I'll umm…I'll work on the zoomer."

"'Kay. See ya!"

"Alright. Hey!" Kiera called. Juliet turned as she was stepping out of the doorway. "Yeah?"

"Thanks." Kiera said with a blush, still embarrassed about what she'd done.

"No problem." Juliet said with a smile, before jumping up, catching the ledge, and pulling herself up into Samos' room.

_That was awkward._

XD I couldn't help but write that little kiss scene. Actually I haven't even decided yet what I should do. Let's have a vote! All in favor of a JulietxKiera thing, review and say so. All in favor of a JakxJuliet thing, review and say so. ^_^ Oh and reviews on the chapter would be nice too. Ik I skipped the flower thing…done on purpose.

Grazie!

-Sean


	5. Chapter 5

Yay chapter 5. Alright people. To clear up a few matters. I have multiple unfinished stories on my account. But some of them are NOT mine. I found out two days ago that my little sister has been using my laptop on the sly to write her own fanfictions since she didn't have a personal computer of her own. So yeah…fun fact there. Now that she's going into high school though she's gonna have her own computer. Which means she can make her own account and type to her lil heart's desire. Yay. Now onwards with Chapter 5!

"Ah you're up. Good. Perhaps you'll be wiser than those two dolts and unblock my Eco collectors." Samos said without preamble. Juliet nodded and looked around.

"Hey do you know where I can take a bath in privacy?"

"Coincidentally…down on Sentinel Beach." Samos said, satisfied. Juliet groaned and nodded. Without a word, she turned and began to walk off when Samos reminded her about the lamps. Juliet walked with leisure down the bridge towards the beach. She jumped down the ledges and cracked her neck. Knowing what to expect somehow made everything much more boring. She sighed and looked at the boxes, knowing exactly which one had the blue eco cluster inside. She still didn't understand how or why she'd transported directly from the cluster to the vent on Geyser Rock but she didn't question it. She smashed the box with a kick and touched the cluster. As soon as it made contact with her, all the other boxes burst open, their contents rushing immediately to her so she could absorb them. Nearby a large crab, almost as big as her great dane back home, popped out of it's shell and crawled towards her, snapping it's pincers angrily. This wasn't the least bit frightening to Juliet, so she simply ran right by it. The weird snake looking thing uncovered it's head and glared at her viciously, snapping it's jaws at her. Juliet ran right by it, feeling the Eco drain from her. She saw the Power cell on the hill and knew that if she could get to it before the pelican, she wouldn't need to go through all that trouble. However, she didn't need to worry; the pelican was gone, as were any signs of its nest.

Juliet grabbed the power cell and put it in the pouch. She looked around for a way up to the Eco collectors and saw the spinning wheel. She hopped on the platform, expecting the weird dogs with the massive eyes to attack her at any moment. She grinned when it's eyes fell on her and it starting bounding towards her. That thing really was _slow_. She ran right by it towards the collectors and when she got there she found another dog, patrolling the area. The first had given up on her, realizing she was too fast to keep up with. Juliet sighed and picked up a branch, under the wild impression that it was somewhat tame. Remarkably, the dog halted and began to pant, patting it's tail against the ground. Juliet blinked in surprise.

"Well that was unexpected." She muttered to herself. She threw the stick as far away as she could, gasping when it fell over the edge onto the sand. The dog ran after it and jumped straight down, landing safely on the sand. While it did retrieve the stick, the dog was at a loss as to how it was to get the stick back to Juliet. While it whined, Juliet got to work digging up the collectors for Samos. It was dirty work and it took up most of the morning, but it had to be done fully in order to receive the power cell at the end. Once Juliet was done, she was completely covered in dirt and sweat. Her hair was filthy and clingy and her multi-colored clothing was now a dark muddy brown. Still, she grabbed the power cell once the last block was completely removed. Exhausted, hot, and filthy, Juliet jumped straight down into the water which was surprisingly luke warm. She swam under the water fall, swinging her head back and running her fingers through her hair to get the dirt out. Soon, the water around her was a murky brown but it was quickly dispelled why the current. She began to rub her arms off when Jak popped up out of the water, grinning widely. Juliet screamed before she realized who it was.

"Jak! What are you doing here? Where's Daxter?" Juliet asked loudly over the crash of the water fall. They were both behind the curtain and the only way one could see them was if they stuck their head into the waterfall. Jak smiled before folding his hands together against his cheek and fake snoring.

"He's asleep?" Juliet asked. Jak nodded and floated a little closer. Juliet felt her cheeks burning up a bit. Why, oh _why_, did she have to blush _ now_ of all times? She looked about frantically for something to say and decided to inform him of the two power cells she'd collected.

"Hey so I unblocked Samo's Eco collectors and I found another Power cell just lying there. It was just on the sand floating there." She said with a nervous high pitched giggle. _Oh god what the hell was that? That wasn't a laugh it was a squeak! Oh god he's getting closer. What do I do? Do I float forward too? No he might get freaked out. What if I float back? No then he'll think I don't like him. And why am I still blushing? Oh sweet Jesus he's even closer. And his eyes are so blue! Why did I not notice that before? Oh god oh god oh god he's even closer. I can count the droplets on his face. Oh man he's so close! What do I do what do I do? Do I lean in? No bad idea. Oh goddamnit stop thinking you're making no sense anyway._

Juliet stared deep into Jak's eyes as he stared back. His hands made their way around her waist and pulled her closer. Her arms snaked up and one slide up around his neck while the other lay on his chest. Jak leaned on close…closer…closer still…so close that Juliet could count his eyelashes and see the different flecks of blue in his eyes. She closed her own eyes feeling Jak's breath on her face, his arms around her waist, his body pressed up against hers. She felt Jak move in closer to her, his lips a mere centimeter away from hers.

"Hey guys!" a loud and obnoxious voice cried. _GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!_

If looks could kill then Daxter would have been dead ten times over. Both Juliet and Jak were giving him murderous looks. They had both submerged up to their chins under water so they could let go of each other but regardless, Daxter was clueless as to what he'd interrupted.

"Whatcha guys doing?"

"What _were_ we doing or what are we doing _now_? Cuz what we _were_ doing is finding a huge stash of orbs and what we're doing _now_ is getting ready to kill you cuz you just made us drop about eighty of them."

"Eh they're just eggs. We can find some more." Daxter shrugged and dove in, paddling over to Jak and climbing up on his shoulder. Juliet rolled her eyes at him before swimming out of the waterfall and onto the beach. She walked over to the spinning wheel, completely ignoring the bombs that were flying around. She knew the Lurker's had absolutely terrible aim so she didn't have to worry about them hitting her. Besides, once she was far enough away, she wouldn't have to worry about them hitting her at all. She sat down on the board and waited for it to take her up. Once the wheel turned all the way, Juliet walked back towards the Eco collectors and met Jak there who had taken a different, apparently shorter route there. She smiled at him and led the way up to the egg.

"Hey toots where ya headed?" Daxter asked. Juliet rolled here eyes. She was already angry at Daxter for ruining such a special moment and on top of it he was acting as if nothing was wrong! She spun around and grabbed him right off of Jak's shoulder. Since he was incredibly thing her hand wrapped easily around his chest.

"First, it's not 'toots' or 'babe' or whatever. It's Juliet. Get that through your head. And second, do you have even an _ounce_ of patience in you? You'll find out where we're going in about thirty seconds if you'd just wait and watch!" She roughly set him down on Jak's shoulder and stalked off. Jak gave Daxter a sympathetic look before shaking his head and following Juliet at a safe distance. She still appeared quite angry and though Jak was just as mad at Daxter as she was, he knew that it was a combination of bad luck and Daxter's horrible sense of timing that that had interrupted them. Juliet angrily shoved her hand through a cluster of Blue Eco and sped off. Another cluster burst out of one of the boxes and rushed at her, charging her up again. The dog up ahead began to bark and run at her but Juliet jumped right over it and ran at the egg, kicking it as hard as she could. Her kick was so strong that the thick shell actually cracked before landing on the hard floor below. As she had neared the egg, Juliet felt her Eco power drop as the Blue shield absorbed the amount needed to activate. The shield unlocked itself and rather than extending high into the air, it only raised up enough to reveal one egg. As Jak got closer Juliet muttered, "Get the orbs." Before jumping down and sliding against the rocks to slow her fall.

"I really ticked her off didn't I?" Daxter muttered to Jak. Jak looked up at his friend and nodded sympathetically before shrugging and collecting the precursor orbs. Once he was done he jumped down after Juliet, who was currently stalking angrily towards Sandover Village.

Juliet wanted to finish everything else on Sentinel Beach, but in order to do that she needed to defeat the large flower in the Forbidden Forest. Her stalking eased into a fast walk as she neared the Bird Lady's house. She'd never particularly liked the woman for no reason other than she simply looked and sounded annoying. Juliet asked Jak to inform her of the Flut Flut egg, get the Power cell and meet her at Forbidden forest. Jak nodded while Daxter looked meekly at her from behind Jak's shoulder. Juliet rolled her eyes and walked off.

A few hours later, she was in the Precursor Temple. She didn't think she could get the Scout fly that was so high up and was sure that even if she did get it, The power cell would go flying off all the way down into the river by the Fisherman. She left it alone, choosing to let Jak get it. Juliet navigated through the Temple, hitting the switch and activating all Blue Eco vents. She knew she was completely stuck here; there was no other way out aside from the hidden Blue Eco vent by the flower's vines and the Blue Eco jump pad. She walked towards the massive room where it was her thoughts jumbling up again.

_It's just a stupid flower. All though I didn't think the Lurkers would be so scary up close and they were. But they were still easy to take out. I mean come on if I can take on a Lurker I can _definitely _take on a flower. Besides…it's a friggin' tulip. How bad could it—Mary mother of_ GOD _that thing is huge!_

She'd just rounded the corner and saw the massive flower that lay dormant ahead of her. Wishing the floating pads weren't so loud, she leapt towards one, wincing when it made a loud gong-like sound. Her head snapped up to the flower, which still appeared to be asleep. Juliet took a deep breath and jumped again, wincing again as the gong-like sound rang through the room, even louder this time. She winced and looked up, only to see a few leaves rustling before everything went still again. She jumped over to the last ledge and looked up at the Flower.

Perhaps, if she could sneak up close enough, she could cut a few petals off. After all she did have the element of surprise.

Juliet sneaked up closer and closer and still the flower was still. Why wasn't it moving? Usually it woke up the minute Jak rounded the corner. She climbed up on the first leaf slowly, carefully, so as not to wake the beast. She leapt to the second one, screwing up her face when the leaf bounced around a little. And yet the flower didn't move. Juliet felt as if her heart was pounding loud enough to wake Samos up from his nap. She leaned in close to rip off a petal…

Closer…

Her fingers almost grazed the surface of the petal…

When a sharp pain manifested in her side. Juliet's breath froze up. She took a few halting gasps, her eyes still staring at the flower. Suddenly the flower head began to move. It looked down at her with large menacing yellow eyes. It opened its mouth, and though it had no teeth, Juliet could see the sacs of acid. Much like a Venus fly trap only three hundred times larger. Juliet almost resigned herself to her fate when something seemed to click. This was only the first part of the game! She still had a long way to go! She couldn't die just now!

Juliet glared back at the flower before grasping the barbed vine that was stabbed into her and twisting it hard. The vine broke off and the creature let out an unearthly scream. Juliet dove right at it, grasping the stem, just below the head. She used her nails to scrabble at the petals. One massive petal fell down and Juliet was covered in nectar. She continued to tear at the petals mindlessly, scrabbling more and more desperately. Her muscles were screaming in protest, she could feel bits of the flower under her nails, she felt the fuzzy stem in between her legs as she held on for dear life, knowing it would be an instant death if the flower could get her in its sights. She held on still scratching desperately until it the last petal fell away. She felt the stem shiver before going limp and falling down. The many barbs retracted into the vines and the whole flower came crashing down. Juliet looked around at the mess. There was nectar everywhere and the flowers petals had flown all over the room. The vines were in complete disarray, without a brain to guide them, they lay limp and dead. The vent had been uncovered and Juliet immediately ran over to it bathing herself in its electric Blue Eco charge. She jumped across the stem to the other side of the flower, grabbing the power cell as she went, and got on the jump pad. She looked up and knelt. As soon as she jumped, Juliet felt herself rocket up into the air. At the same time, a significant amount of her charge had been taken by the pad but she didn't mind. The feeling of weightlessness took over as she rose higher and higher up the exit tube. The hatch snapped open right before she hit it. Warm tropical air hit her and her eyes had some trouble adjusting to the difference in light. She grinned as gravity began to take over. The leaves of a nearby tree tickled her face before she fell away from them, landing safely on the topside of the hatch. She lay on the hatch grinning stupidly and breathing as if she'd run a marathon.

"Juliet?"

Juliet looked up, seeing Jak and Daxter sitting there. Daxter still appeared cowed by her until Juliet jumped down and hugged Jak tightly.

"Hey Jak! Hey Daxter!" She grabbed Daxter and hugged him tightly before saying, "Ooh I never thought I'd be so happy to see your furry mug!" unaware that she'd just used Kiera's line.

"Uhh…right. So apparently you took care of the vines?"

"Oh yeah I did! It wasn't too bad."

"You took on the flower all by yourself?"

"Well yeah." Juliet said in a matter-of-fact tone. "It wasn't hard at all."

"So all you needed was a good fight with a dandelion to stop being mad at me?"

"Yupp!" She said brightly before snuggling with him again. Daxter grinned and wriggled up to her shoulder.

"You know Jak? I like it more on _her_ shoulder." Jak feigned hurt but gave a grin before turning and walking back towards Samos' hut. Juliet followed him and together they gave the Power cells to Kiera who smiled sweetly at them before taking the cells and placing them in a larger bag, then packing up for the day. Jak wordlessly (obviously) bid his farewell and Daxter waved, simply too tired to speak. Juliet walked in and said, "So how much did you get done on the zoomer?"

"Quite a lot! I've just got to fix the thermometer and then everything is set. All we'll be waiting on are the last few power cells." Kiera said brightly, proudly rubbing the side of the zoomer. It was very roughly put together but Juliet didn't expect anything else; Kiera had barely anytime at all to come up with a machine to take the heat of the canyon, to find a power source for the heat shield, to release the cooling balloons, and to test the machine itself. Juliet smiled to herself before curling up on the cushions she'd laid out.

"What are you doing?" Kiera asked her.

"Sleeping?"

"There?" Kiera asked, thoroughly confused.

"Uhh…yeah."

"No no no you can't! Come here you can sleep with me! I—I mean…like…with me as in in my bed like…you know we could share…I mean—like…you know what I mean." She finished lamely. Juliet smiled and nodded.

"Yeah I get it. I just wasn't sure if you'd be okay with it after this morning."

"Well it was an accident. So yeah…I'm alright with it."

Juliet smiled and nodded, crawling into Kiera's bed and squeezing herself up against the wall so Kiera could have more space. When Kiera was done packing up, she climbed into bed, her back to Juliet and sighed deeply. A few seconds later, she squeezed herself up against Juliet, who, in her sleepy state, carelessly wrapped her arms around Kiera's waist. Soon, both girls had fallen asleep.

Yeah….I didn't get any reviews or ANYthing as to what the state of the relationships should be so I left it somewhat neutral. YES Kiera is developing small feelings for Juliet and OBVIOUSLY Juliet has feelings for Jak. And naturally Daxter has feelings for anything with boobs…he gets that special feeling in his "tail". So yeah…please review because I don't want to disappoint the masses by making an incorrect pairing.

Grazie!

Sean


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